I "bricked" my iphone with the recent update, it got stuck on the "preparing iphone for update" - only showing yellow triangle. I tried to restore multiple times, no dice.

I then downloaded an older itunes version (suggestion I found) and tried to restore - IT WORKED. Restored to 1.02 then I tried to updated to 1.1.1 and that also WORKED.

All good to go. The older itunes version was 7.3.1.3 and it was able to restore me to 1.02.

This was not an unlocked phone, but it was mildly hacked. Thanks for the great forum , honestly thought I had a paper weight on my hands.

You never actually upgraded to 1.1.1 though.

If you still had the yellow triangle for the restore screen on the phone you were still in 1.0.2 all along.

It matters not which version of iTunes you use. If your phone is fulling updated to 1.1.1 there is no going back. You can go back to whatever version of iTunes you want, the 1.1.1 can't be overwritten with older firmware from within iTunes

Maybe the Deb Team will be able to find a way via a script of their own making, but that's a ways down the road